As Partnership Day London closes out for 2023, and the industry collectively turns focus towards peak season and 2024 planning, we’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on the topics and highlights from the event. These data insights, critical considerations and learnings will be highly relevant to marketers during these key partner strategy planning months in Q4.
Partnership Day London Recap
Partnership Day London brought together 250 of Europe’s most powerful partnership marketers, from all four corners of the industry. Keynote Timothy (Timo) Armoo – FanBytes Co-Founder and Gen Z Sensei set the tone for the day, as he launched a fast-paced day of content that focused on four key pillars during his keynote address, all centred around the opportunity for brands to engage with Gen Z and Generation Alpha. These core themes included:
– The changing nature of influencers
– Why brands are buying media publishers
– Why creative (not distribution) is king, and
– Communities over audiences
As he placed his bets on the ever-increasing growth of Live Shopping, Armoo cited the success of Tommy Hilfiger live stream shows in China which attracted 14 million viewers and sold out product lines in just two minutes. Unlike broadcast platforms like QVC, the new era of Live Streaming is choosing platforms like TikTok to host their live shopping efforts. The data supports: Over 50% of TikTok users have bought goods after watching TikTok LIVE. As Armoo states, platforms are becoming shopping malls and everyone can become an outlet.
Unlike QVC et al, favoured by customers in an aging demographic, social commerce and livestream shopping is a market growing most rapidly among Gen-Z and millennial consumers. Per McKinsey & Company, the product categories most often showcased are Apparel and Fashion (36% share), followed by Beauty products and Food (at roughly 7% each). Around 47% of Gen Z consumers have made a livestream purchase in both the US and UK, highlighting the opportunity for revenue potential for both advertisers and publishers.
Armoo closed the session with a startling comment that stopped the crowd in their tracks for more than a few seconds.
“I’m jealous of you.”
He expanded to clarify that he’s envious of the exciting place affiliate marketing is at in its trajectory as a channel. Explaining further how he sees it as one of the most impactful channels out there, he also believes that it will only get bigger.
He said: “Part of the reason why I think it will get bigger is because we’re in a macro-economy right now where people are obsessing about performance. If you can have a channel, which pretty much only pays out when there’s performance, that is an incredibly powerful channel and an incredibly exciting channel.”
Affiliate Marketing: Economic Realities and Ensuing Opportunities
Armoo’s session set the scene for eMarketer’s Bill Fisher’s session later in the day. Principal Digital Analyst for Insider Intelligence UK, his session went behind the affiliate marketing numbers, sharing trends, analysis, and predicted what’s next for the channel.
Despite a scene setter of a challenging year for marketers across the board, the overarching message was optimism and opportunity. Fisher shared eMarketer’s downward revision to the 2023 absolute UK AdSpend forecast, predicting that growth will be down 4 percentage points, equalling some two billion pounds, however he shared that total ad spend is still set to reach £33bn, representing 3% growth YOY. While three quartners of all marketers state that their budgets were under heavy scrutiny, 30% of marketers budgets have increased and 40% have stayed the same.
Key takeaways from the session were that marketers have the opportunity to meet consumers where they were as shopping behaviours shifted within the digital environment, and to consider budget accordingly. Just as importantly, Fisher cited the ability to drive growth in adjacent areas.
You can view the eMarketer session now or visit the Partnership Day London content hub now.
Here, you’ll also find two partner sessions:
– Everything You Need to Know About Scaling & Managing Global Influencer Programs, with Laura Donadio, THG Solutions, April Roberts, Karen Millen and Nick Zod, DAZN
– The Past, Present & Future of Partnerships: Unleashing the Power that Lies Ahead, with Adam Davison, Deliveroo, Tom Cockeram, easyJet Holidays and Rich Lallo, BooHoo Group PLC
To learn more about how Partnerize can help you make the most of your partnerships, get in touch at contact@partnerize.com.
